“Literacy has always been about using the most powerful cultural tools available to make and communicate meaning. At the present, those tools happen to be multimedia tools that use video, graphics, sound, and traditional text in a hypermedia format. If we or our students don't know how to critically use these tools to their fullest meaning-constructive potential, then we—and they—are illiterate" (Wilhelm, 2000, p. 7).
What Can You Do With a Wiki?
communicate with parents and community members
design motivating learning environments and materials
engage students in social issues
evaluate student progress
facilitate student clubs and professional learning communities
improve personal productivity and organization
participate in collaborative interclass, interschool, and international projects
scaffold the development of student writing
support action research and professional development
transform what it means to teach, learn, and understand!
So what's a wiki?
Understanding and authoring in the wiki environment.
What's a wiki? A wiki is a type of website where multiple authors can be designated to edit and create content. Wikis have discussion pages, history to view previous edits, and can be public, semi-private, or private.
CommonCraft created a video that explains how a wiki works
Explore
"Communities can't be manufactured, but you can design the conditions under which they are most likely to emerge, and encourage their growth when they do" (Rheingold, 1998).
Guiding questions:
1. What kinds of content are in these wikis?
2. How do these wikis provide opportunities for advocacy, communication, collaboration, innovation? Examples Ah-Bon French middle school wiki David Warlick's CoLearners shows how a presenter can put presentations, notes, handouts, and invite participants. FrauLyon high school German wiki LHS French classes - Toni Theisen's French classes Mlle. Fox's classes, French Teacher Mme Mina Kim, French Teacher, has a fantastic wiki. Mme Thomas French class wiki Teresita Eldridge Spanish Toni Theisen, ACTFL 2009 Teacher of the Year, uses a wiki for her starting point for instruction and professional development Wanglaoshi Wiki Chinese K-1 wiki Guy Dippolito has a wiki for each of his classes, brand new this year to wikis.(Private wiki, for Kendall demo only)
Flat Classroom Project has new collaborative projects for 2009-2010 Youth Wiki is a collaborative project across several schools
And, need help? Check out the video tours of Wikispaces to learn how to begin editing your page, add images and media, and personalize your space.
The main page of the Wikispaces Help has quite an array of help topics to chose from.
For more specific information that has been asked for by teachers, it can be found in the Teachers Section of the Wikispaces help. There are a few more resources about halfway down the page under heading number 9 (a couple PDFs and PowerPoints), and there are links to video tutorials on that page! Digitally Speaking has an eloquent page about integrating wikis into classroom practice. Now that you have had technical practice, enjoy growing your wiki and reading about other educators' experiences with wikis!
Setting the scene
“Literacy has always been about using the most powerful cultural tools available to make and communicate meaning. At the present, those tools happen to be multimedia tools that use video, graphics, sound, and traditional text in a hypermedia format. If we or our students don't know how to critically use these tools to their fullest meaning-constructive potential, then we—and they—are illiterate" (Wilhelm, 2000, p. 7).What Can You Do With a Wiki?
So what's a wiki?
Understanding and authoring in the wiki environment.What's a wiki?
A wiki is a type of website where multiple authors can be designated to edit and create content. Wikis have discussion pages, history to view previous edits, and can be public, semi-private, or private.
CommonCraft created a video that explains how a wiki works
Explore
"Communities can't be manufactured, but you can design the conditions under which they are most likely to emerge, and encourage their growth when they do" (Rheingold, 1998).
Guiding questions:
1. What kinds of content are in these wikis?
2. How do these wikis provide opportunities for advocacy, communication, collaboration, innovation?
Examples
Ah-Bon French middle school wiki
David Warlick's CoLearners shows how a presenter can put presentations, notes, handouts, and invite participants.
FrauLyon high school German wiki
LHS French classes - Toni Theisen's French classes
Mlle. Fox's classes, French Teacher
Mme Mina Kim, French Teacher, has a fantastic wiki.
Mme Thomas French class wiki
Teresita Eldridge Spanish
Toni Theisen, ACTFL 2009 Teacher of the Year, uses a wiki for her starting point for instruction and professional development
Wanglaoshi Wiki Chinese K-1 wiki
Guy Dippolito has a wiki for each of his classes, brand new this year to wikis.(Private wiki, for Kendall demo only)
Flat Classroom Project has new collaborative projects for 2009-2010
Youth Wiki is a collaborative project across several schools
LanguageLinks2006 and specifically the Intern Level Methods shows how wikis can be an interactive tool for World Language Methods courses
ISTE has a NETS Implementation site
Curriki- creating lesson plans and sharing in a wiki format
Educational Wikis provides a rationale and examples for K-12
TeachWeb20 is an interesting collaborative wiki evaluating Web 2.0 tools
Wikibooks - open content textbooks
Professional Development Videos - elementary, with videos of teaching
Discuss: What features did you find?
So if students are creating wikis, how can you assess them? Vicki Davis has a wiki grading rubric and Read*Write*Think has a wiki rubric and interesting lesson on protest songs.
Thinking about the purpose of your wiki
Design ConsiderationsToday we are going to:
Let's get started!
If you don't have a wikispaces.com account, then go to http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers
Visit this page to get the advertisement-free wikispace or click the image below.
And, need help? Check out the video tours of Wikispaces to learn how to begin editing your page, add images and media, and personalize your space.
The main page of the Wikispaces Help has quite an array of help topics to chose from.
For more specific information that has been asked for by teachers, it can be found in the Teachers Section of the Wikispaces help. There are a few more resources about halfway down the page under heading number 9 (a couple PDFs and PowerPoints), and there are links to video tutorials on that page!
Digitally Speaking has an eloquent page about integrating wikis into classroom practice. Now that you have had technical practice, enjoy growing your wiki and reading about other educators' experiences with wikis!